patricky

Just as a general musing on intellectual dick waving on websites:

"What everyone should know" is a subjective statement, and it's always colored by people's own interests, and by their own experiences.

I don't see many folks online talking about how every competent, well rounded and educated person should know how to handle all aspects of their car's basic maintenance, but my grandfather sure as hell believed they should.

He knew the order of the planets - he taught them to me, in fact, if I recall correctly - but he considered information like that to be comparatively inconsequential, at least in relation to learning how to do something like service your own car's brakes.

And considering that I still remember the order of the planets, and have never needed to use that information, but had to spend a shitload of money because I'd let the knowledge of how to replace an exhaust manifold slip away... at least my pocketbook agrees with him.


This is just an incomplete thought. Forgive me.